History_of_language_in_Morocco
The presence of traces of language in Morocco and North Africa dates back to about 30,000 years, which is the date to which archaeologists refer to the birth of Homo sapiens, as was recently shown by the archaeological discovery in Mount Irhoud of the first stages of Homo sapiens. The date of these discoveries has been determined to be approximately 300,000 years, using technology. Radiological imaging to determine age. Therefore, these bones are the oldest remains of the Homo sapiens species discovered to this day, as they are approximately 100,000 years older than the oldest Homo sapiens discovered so far. .
The site of Jebel Irhoud has been known since the 1960s, where human remains and tools dating back to the “Mesolithic Age” were found, but the initial reading of these finds remained ambiguous for years due to the inaccuracy of their biological age, thanks to the recent excavations that were carried out since 2004. The new remains that have been discovered and dated make the Jebel Irhoud site the oldest and richest “Mesolithic” site in Africa, which documents the early stages of the evolution of Homo sapiens.
It is scientifically difficult to confirm or deny the existence of the Amazigh language at that time except thanks to drawn stone inscriptions. In this way, Morocco is considered the first land in which ancient humans settled, with what is unique about the ancient archaeological discovery, which is described as the direct ancestor of the Amazigh.
Other manifestations of the antiquity of the Amazigh language in Morocco and North Africa include “Tifinagh”, an explanation and detail of the name scientifically “by our discovery”, where “Tifi” was found, “Sova” is a discovery, and “Nag” is ours meaning “from our discovery”. The letters date back to 2500 years BC and their range of spread extends. From northern Sudan to the Canary Islands, Sicily and Andalusia in the north, “Marmul” tells us in the 16th century that works were written in the language before Roman control over North Africa. The same thing is indicated by the Moroccan historian Hassan Al-Wazzan, which indicates that the Amazigh language has kept pace with Moroccan history since the presence of man on its land. Until now, it has interacted with the languages of other peoples, such as Phoenician, Latin, Iberian, and Arabic, but it was excluded from benefiting from modern means at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Rather, the precaution that these skeptics reached led the specialists to respond affirmatively and positively that the language written in Libyan letters is indeed a form of ancient barbarism. This cautious position appears in a famous text by “A. Bassi” in which it states: In general, the prevailing perception based on considering the language to be barbaric “The ancient language was a local language and the only local language until a certain period before history.” It is based primarily on negative arguments. Berber was never presented to us as an alien language, which makes it original and authentic, and we were never given proof of the existence of any other local language or its disappearance.
Some Libyan inscriptions are still difficult to read and understand, despite the extensive research conducted by archaeologists and researchers over a century, as S. Shaker pointed out. A very strange situation has recently developed, especially after linguists were provided with many helpful possibilities, such as bilingual inscriptions between Punic and Libyan and between Libyan and Latin, and knowledge of the modern form of the language.
This is because if we do not have conclusive evidence of linguistic unity among the peoples that settled or inhabited North Africa in ancient times, then the historical data related to place names, proper names, linguistic vocabulary, and testimonies of Arab authors combine in the existence of a kinship between the ancient Libyan and Berber languages. Returning to the argument for this closeness and compatibility between the two languages, which some specialists deny, it is useful to ask, “If the Libyan (A-Basset) is not an ancient form of Berber, then how, I wonder, and when did the Berber language arise!”
Despite what was mentioned above about the existence of a linguistic kinship between the ancient Libyan and Berber languages with other languages besides them that are considered close to them from a geographical standpoint, this is something that those who said it appeared at a very early time. Perhaps we could even say from the beginning of the studies (that focused on the Berbers) that this is (Champollion). Since 1838, he has said that there is a kinship between the ancient Berber and Libyan languages and the ancient Egyptian Pharaonic language. This is in the context of the introduction that he wrote to the (Dictionary of the Berber Language) by his author (Vintor de Paradis), as he and others, who are more numerous, say that there is a relationship between the Berber language and the Semitic languages.
We had to wait for the decisive progress that included or was achieved in the study of the ancient Semitic language until M. Cohen came out to us in the year 1924 with his proposal to consider barbarism as part of a large family of traits. (chamito-sémitique)
Which includes the ancient Egyptian language, the Coptic language, which is its modern form, the Cushitic language, and the Semitic language. Each of these linguistic groups has characteristics that constitute its originality, but there are many elements of kinship between them, which led some specialists in this field to the thesis that M. Cohen said.
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Tangis, the Moorish and the inscriptions of the ruins of the “Marshan” tombs, which were inscribed with Tifinagh letters, are an example..
The inscription of the Marchan Tangier Museum shows us the ancient Berber letters (Tifinagh) that were discovered by excavating the stone graves on the Marchan Hill. Antiquities in the Punic Marchan Tombs, included in the National Museum of Museums, in the Kasbah of Tangiers.
The birth of the city of Tangier was at the hands of the Moorish leader (Souphax), who later established “Tangis”, which he established on the basis that it was one of his colonies.
Tangier, Morocco, is a city that is not born today. It is a city with an extended history and deep roots in history. Historically, Tangier is one of the oldest Moroccan cities, which was founded by the Berber king (Sovacus), and in which Phoenician merchants lived, five centuries before the birth of Christ - peace be upon him -. As this city very quickly became one of the most important commercial centers located on the Mediterranean Sea.
See historical footnotes:
✓l-A-Basset; the Berber language. Africa and Asia; 1956.
✓jean-Michel de Venture de Paradis Berber language dictionary.
✓Grammar and abridged dictionary of the Berber language composed by the late Venture of Para-dis) cura di Amédée Joubert)
Paris Royal Print 1844.
✓Berbers, “Memory and Identity,” Gabriel Camp, pages 90-91.
✓Symposium on multilingualism and the Moroccan educational system, October 19, 1995, Tetouan Higher Normal School.
Muhammad Shafiq: A glimpse of 33 centuries of Berber history, Dar Al-Kalam, 1989, page 61.
✓Marmul Africa, translated by Muhammad Zniber and Muhammad Hajji, page 117.
Al-Hasan Al-Wazzan’s Description of Africa, page 69.
North Africa, Morocco, Studies in History and Culture, “Mohamed Handayen, pages 47-48